{"id":249,"date":"2026-06-18T23:04:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2026-06-18T23:04:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:04:51","slug":"asu-maneuvers-again-threaten-phoenix-group-that-feeds-homeless-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"ASU maneuvers again threaten Phoenix group that feeds homeless people"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A mutual aid group that feeds homeless people in downtown Phoenix just can\u2019t get far enough away from Arizona State University, apparently.<\/p>\n

Read more Is she ill? Lake stifles combative instincts at confirmation hearing<\/a><\/p>\n

Every Sunday evening for years, the group Food Not Bombs PHX set up a buffet-style meal on a patio attached to an ASU building overlooking Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix. The leaderless mutual aid group serves food to homeless people once a week as a form of protest. But then in April, ASU kicked the group out of its spot, forcing it to move its events into the park itself. That put them in the crosshairs of a controversial new city ordinance limiting aid to homeless people in Phoenix parks, which the Phoenix City Council passed about two weeks later.<\/p>\n

Now, in an attempt to comply with the ordinance while continuing its work, the group has moved its food service to a nearby, privately owned historic property. But that, too, could be at risk, again because of ASU. The university is seeking to seize and raze the home \u2014 the 124-year-old Louis Emerson House, located at 623 N. Fourth Street \u2014 to make way for its new health school headquarters.<\/p>\n

A court hearing on Friday could determine the fate of the historic structure \u2014 and could force Food Not Bombs PHX to relocate its events yet again.<\/p>\n

In early June, Food Not Bombs PHX moved its weekly Sunday food service to the Louis Emerson House, a Victorian-era home on the historic register in downtown Phoenix that ASU is trying to seize through eminent domain. The owner of the historic home and its tenant agreed to provide a spot on the private historic property for Food Not Bombs PHX to continue serving food to homeless people in the area \u2014 for as long as the property is still theirs. The two groups felt their fights were two sides of the same coin as they face off with the powers that be and their ambitions to develop Phoenix and clean up its parks and streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s government overstepping,\u201d said Amy, a Food Not Bombs PHX volunteer who declined to give her last name and who helped coordinate the partnership with the Louis Emerson House. \u201cGovernment\u2019s supposed to actually benefit society, and I don\u2019t feel like in either of these situations it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Young, the owner of Louis Emerson House, said that he readily agreed to let them use the property when his tenant, Barry Schwartz, approached him with the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy anybody does anything for these people,\u201d Young said, adding that ASU has \u201ca certain measure of arrogance when they come in and start pushing people around.\u201d<\/p>\n

ASU and the city of Phoenix did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In an email to Phoenix New Times, Schwartz said that he wants to support and help Food Not Bombs but that he didn\u2019t want to speak about the situation before a show cause hearing scheduled for Friday in the eminent domain case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Arizona police board approves cop who allegedly attacked neighbor<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Parks ordinance at play<\/h2>\n

The ordinance restricting Food Not Bombs PHX\u2019s work went into effect in early June. It makes it a misdemeanor to serve food and provide medical care in city parks without a permit, and it bans medical care with needles and needle exchanges altogether. There are only two permits per month per approved park for organizations and individuals looking to provide aid to homeless people in city parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Food Not Bombs\u2019 regular location, Civic Space Park, is not one of the approved parks. As a workaround, the group now only hands out water, electrolytes and clothing in their old location before sending people to the Louis Emerson House, about half a mile away, for their meal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ones who show up are a little confused,\u201d Jeremy Peraza, a regular volunteer with Food Not Bombs, said about the people who come to park on Sundays to eat their food. \u201cWe hand them a map \u2014 print out, and say, \u201cHey, you want some food? You can just walk this short distance to this house. We\u2019ve got plenty of it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group has served food with its new setup twice since the ordinance went into effect at the beginning of the month. Their first week without handing out food at the park, Phoenix park rangers scrutinized them closely, Peraza said. The Louis Emerson House isn\u2019t as conveniently located, so the group has served only about 25 people each Sunday that it\u2019s been there, about half its usual number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volunteers are hopeful that two related First Amendment challenges to the ordinance will succeed. A recent ruling barring the city from enforcing the ordinance applied only to that case\u2019s plaintiffs, the church organization St. Herman\u2019s Table and its minister and founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping that a judge would rule against the ordinance, like in general, and not just for St. Herman\u2019s Table, but that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Peraza said. Now the group is keeping an eye on the second case recently filed by two nonprofits, Circle the City and Valle del Sol.<\/p>\n

\n

Food Not Bombs PHX is watching the Louis Emerson House\u2019s case closely, too \u2014 not just for the sake of their work but also for the sake of the tenant, Schwartz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just another potential unsheltered person that they are creating by evicting this person and demolishing the house,\u201d Peraza said. \u201cDo they have a solution to put this person in housing? I haven\u2019t seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Biggs applauds Hobbs\u2019 data center crackdown at GOP governor debate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASU kicked Food Not Bombs PHX off its patio and wants to seize the historic Louis Emerson House that hosts the group’s events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nASU maneuvers again threaten Phoenix group that feeds homeless people - Phoenix Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=249\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ASU maneuvers again threaten Phoenix group that feeds homeless people - Phoenix Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ASU kicked Food Not Bombs PHX off its patio and wants to seize the historic Louis Emerson House that hosts the group's events.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=249\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Phoenix Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T23:04:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b18a6d477e57bdeec7b4b61a70eace7b\"},\"headline\":\"ASU maneuvers again threaten Phoenix group that feeds homeless people\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T23:04:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249\"},\"wordCount\":956,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/99d1e64b87e63c16d915f86e0d99563a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=249\",\"name\":\"ASU maneuvers again threaten Phoenix group that feeds homeless people - 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